Battle For Salvation
by Silent.Moonlight.Breeze
Summary: Two teenage girls stumble into The World That Never Was, where all of their dreams become reality. Organization XIII finds them and sees them as useful to their plan. Will they be able to save the Organization from a horrible fate?
1. Discovery

_Battle for Salvation_

_Discovery_

* * *

It was a calm night. The moon shone over a quiet village on the outskirts of a forest. In one of those particular houses lived a family of three. Two teen-aged girls sat in the living room. The girl with long blonde hair sat contently reading a vampire novel, while the short haired brunette had her attention fixed on a video game. It was a quarter till midnight and their father was putting on his shoes, getting ready to head out for work.

"Now, I don't want you two staying up too late" their father said as he opened the door. The two girls nodded. "Oh, and Shana," he said before he shut the door. "I want you to take a break from that video game. You've been playing it all day."

The thin brunette answered with a vague 'fine'. The door shut and left them alone. About an hour afterward, Shana threw down the PS2 controller and sprawled out on the floor. "Finally!" she sighed. "I finally beat it." Sabrina marked the page she was on a set the book down.

"It took you long enough. How many hours did you spend on it?" Shana sat up and took the disk out of the PS2. "Too many." She put the disk back into its case and wiped some dust away from the title, 'Kingdom Hearts II'.

Sabrina continued to ask questions about the game. "So how did it end? What happened to Organization XIII?" Shana snorted.

"How did it end? It was a horrible ending. The whole Organization was killed off, and Roxas joined Sora…so he basically doesn't exist anymore." Sabrina slid down the sofa and sighed.

"Way to make everything depressing. But you're right, that is a horrible way to end." She glanced at the clock, which read 1:30 AM. It was about time to go. The two got dressed in older clothes and went out the door, headed towards the woods.

About a year and a half ago, after Shana had finished Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, both of them had developed an obsession for Organization XIII. So whenever Shana's dad had to work late, the girls would walk over to the woods and look around, trying to find Castle Oblivion, or The World That Never Was. It was all in good fun, but in the back of their minds they did hope to find something. They would stay out until they had just enough time to get back to Shana's house before her dad got home from work. On occasions when they wanted to go far, they would take their bikes. However, they didn't on this night, for they were more tired than usual tonight.

They passed most of the area at the opening, because they have searched there so much they practically had it memorized. However, they skimmed over all of the trees and bushes as they passed, just in case they missed something. As Shana scanned over their surroundings, Sabrina stood there looking at the stars in the sky. Suddenly Shana called to her and made her jump.

"Hey, come over here! Have you seen this here before?" Sabrina walked over to her friend, who was looking at a path that was half hidden by pine branches.

"No." She replied. "I've never noticed that path here before. I wonder how we missed it."

"Let's see how much time we have left before we go any further," Shana said as she looked at her watch. If they didn't have too much time left, they would go home and use their bikes to ride down it tomorrow. She looked at her watch for a few moments, and then tapped the glass covering. "That's funny," She said. "My watch seems to have stopped. What does your cell phone say?" Sabrina took the phone out of her pocket and flipped up the top. She looked at Shana's watch and then back to hers.

"It says the same time as yours. But that can't be right. It's the same time as when we left." They both shrugged at each other. "Well, I guess we could walk for about an hour or so and then head back." Shana agreed and moved the branches aside. It was a tricky task at first, because the path became heavily laden with branches and roots. The path soon, to they're relief, became clearer, but it seemed to be going nowhere. Slightly disappointed, Sabrina suggested that they turn around soon, but Shana wanted to go a little further.

A little while later, they stumbled across a new, strange obstacle. The path separated into two different paths, but the weird part was the signs that lie in-between them. Written, or carved rather, on the slightly rotting wood were the words 'Light' and 'Darkness'. The 'Light' sign pointed towards the right path that went straight, and disappeared in the direction the sun would raise. The sign that read 'Darkness' pointed down the left path that twisted and turned over hills, and soon disappeared into the night. "Great," Shana mumbled and leaned up against a tree.

"What should we do now?" Sabrina looked down both paths and thought a while. Then a light bulb went off. "Maybe," she said as she snapped her fingers. "We shouldn't go down either path." Shana gave her a look of confusion, but then she understood.

"I see. I think I get what you're saying. The World That Never Was is a world that lies between light and darkness, so that's why we shouldn't take either path." Sabrina nodded.

"We have to be careful though," she added. "We don't want to get lost out there and end up getting home after your dad." Keeping that thought in the back of our minds, they took a few steps in the grass that lie between the paths. Suddenly; everything shattered like glass around them. The scenery disappeared, and so did the two girls. There was a sickening feeling of falling, and then everything went black.

* * *

_Just to let you know now, the chapters will most likely either be this short, or longer, but just slightly. So don't be surprised. This is pretty much the first fanfiction that I wrote, so if there is any constructive criticism, please share it with me._

_Until next time! _


	2. Arrival

Battle for Salvation

Author: Whoo, I have updated. It's a little longer than the first, but still short. I hope someone enjoys it anyways.

Disclaimer: I own nothing...except my own two characters.

* * *

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_Arrival_

* * *

Droplets of rain slid down Shana's face, causing her to stir. She shook off the nauseous feeling and tried to recall what had just happened to her. All she remembered was walking into the field and then—she stopped her thoughts abruptly. The still unconscious Sabrina and Shana were in the middle of a dark alleyway. The place felt familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. All of her questions, however, were put to rest when she looked up towards the sky. There, shining brightly above the town was a heart shaped moon.

"Ugh…what happened?" said Sabrina rather groggily. She rubbed her eyes and stood up. "Hey, are you okay?" She walked over to me and put her and on Shana's shoulder. Seeing as she wasn't paying much attention to her, she decided to look in the direction her friends eyes were so fixated on. When she looked up, she had to shake her head and look again, just to make sure she wasn't imagining it. They were both speechless. Well, they were until Sabrina made a loud squeal of joy and starting shaking Shana wildly.

"Do you realize where we are? Do you!?"

Shana settled her overexcited friend enough for her to stop shaking people. Of course she knew where she was. She's only dreamed of seeing this place ever since she played Kingdom Hearts.

She walked down the alleyway, running her fingers along the damp walls, glancing around corners, searching for any sign of life. Even seeing a heartless would be very pleasing.

Heartless…

Shana stopped at the end of the alley, and stared at the small open area it turned to. She didn't say anything, just looked into the empty space, and backed away slightly as if something would jump out at her at any moment. Sabrina looked puzzled.

"What's the matter? Let's go explore further." But Shana didn't move.

"Why aren't there any Heartless popping up?"

Sabrina thought for a moment, and then shrugged. In the game, there were usually hundreds of Heartless that would pop up out of the shadows and attacked. But, now the place was completely bare. However, they decided to take advantage of the peace and tried to think of a way to get through the whole city and up to the Castle. They had no weapons, and if any Heartless were to show up, they would be in a great deal of trouble.

"Hey Shana," Sabrina asked suddenly. Shana looked at her, waiting for her question. "Do you think that we should use our code names if we make it to the Castle? You know, to blend in?" She thought about this.

"Yeah, why not," she replied. "It's not like it's going to hurt anyone." From then on, they would refer to Shana as Auxra, and Sabrina as Tsuraxte. They weren't anagrams of their real names, but they sounded better. To them, that was all that mattered. Now that the subject of names had been cleared, it was time to discuss weapons. It's not like they packed a bag full of supplies before they left Auxra's house.

"Well," Tsuraxte said looking around. "Do you see anything we could use?"

Auxra looked around, too. There was absolutely nothing on the ground except concrete, wet concrete at that.

"Nope," she replied. "Unless you plan on yanking down one of those neon signs and hit the Heartless with those, I don't see anything we could use for weapons." Tsuraxte laughed.

"If Steve were here, he would just hug them to death!" It was either that or annoy them to death…

After deciding against the neon sign, the two of them decided to just dash through at full speed, hoping that they wouldn't get hurt too badly. It was a foolish plan, but it was all they had. Auxra tied her hair back to add to the drama of the moment, and Tsuraxte couldn't have cared less and kept hers down and in her eyes. Thunder crashed and it began to rain harder, making the streets more treacherous.

"Well, this shouldn't make this harder at all," Auxra said sarcastically. Tsuraxte laughed nervously. They both took a deep breath and twisted in and out of the first open space.

No sooner than they took two steps, did swarms of Heartless appear and started to chase and scratch at them, just like in the game. Their large yellow eyes were shining with hunger for the hearts they sensed were near. They were twisting and turning out of sharp corners, never looking back for the fear that it would slow them down and increase the already great chances of getting their heart stolen. They were extremely lucky not to have been struck down already.

They were just starting to approach the Memories Skyscraper, and by this time, they had many deep scratches that were oozing blood, and they were severely out of breath. As they reached the end of the alleyway that let to the massive skyscraper decorated with many neon lights, they took the chance to look back to see how fast the shadow creatures were creeping up on them. To their surprise, they were starting to slow down and fade back into the darkness. It was like they were giving up, or something had frightened them suddenly.

They stopped, slightly relieved, and decided to catch their breath as they pondered why the Heartless would suddenly leave like that. However, a sound like a gush of wind echoed from behind them. They turned around slowly, only to become face to face with a greater threat than a normal shadow. Standing in front of them, poised for attack, was a Neo Shadow.

From where they were left standing, the path was much to narrow to evade the upcoming attack and get around the much larger shadow. They fell to their knees and watched in hopelessness as the Neo Shadow raised its clawed hand and brought it back down with immense force. Auxra closed her eyes tight, waiting for everything to go black, but nothing happened. She was certain she heard a clashing noise, but no pain had been inflicted upon herself or her friend.

"Well, look at what we've got here."

It was a male's voice, and it sounded very familiar. They opened their eyes to see a tall, black hooded figure standing in front of them. It was only until the man removed his hood did they realize who exactly was standing in front of them, saved them! Light blue hair tumbled out of his hood and relaxed on his shoulders. Bright yellow eyes stared back at us with question and distrust, and an 'X' shaped scar lie in-between. It was Organization XIII's number 7, Saïx.

The Luna Diviner.

* * *

Well, that's all for this chapter. I wonder how many chapters this story will be...oh well. I'll think about that later after the next chapter is finished.

* * *


	3. Acceptance

Battle for Salvation

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_Acceptance_

* * *

Auxra and Tsuraxte just sat and stared, words being drowned out by shock. The figure standing before us was not our imagination, but the real Saix; an actual member of Organization XIII in the flesh! There eyes shined with excitement, accompanied by fear. Saix noticed this important piece of information while studying the two girls.

"It's funny…" he said after a moment of silence. "It's funny how the eyes act as doors." This was a rather confusing statement, so the girls said nothing and waited to see if he had anything else to say.

"Many secrets can be kept safely if you have the door secured properly. Your doors, however, are wide open, and I can see straight to your heart." Auxra caught a hint of jealously in his voice, which made her realize what he must be talking about. He knew that they had hearts. They were not Nobodies.

He continued. "So…how did you ever manage to make it to our world? Help from our enemy, perhaps?"

'_Their enemy…?'_ Auxra thought. _'Oh. They must mean Sora.' _

Yes, Sora; the ever optimistic wielder of the Keyblade. The mightiest weapon in all the worlds, crafted to assist in the downfall of all the Heartless, Organization XIII, and anyone who dares to get in his way of being reunited with his best friends. Auxra narrowed her eyes in disgust.

"Of course not!" she said, raising her voice. Tsuraxte spoke up, just as disgusted at the idea of them helping Sora.

"We're not entirely sure how we got here ourselves. We just kind of…appeared here."

Saix was about to speak, but Auxra interrupted him. "Why do you care anyways? Out of all of the members of the Organization, why would you save us from the Heartless? We'd think you'd get enjoyment from it."

Tsuraxte looked at her friend a little uneasily. They didn't want to let it slip about how much they knew. However, Saix caught the mistake right away.

His lips curled into a smirk. "So, the Superior was right. You two seemed to act too familiar with this world to not have known anything." He glared at Auxra, and then continued with a more intimidating tone. "And don't get the ridiculous idea that I actually cared about what happened to you. I was merely following orders." Without warning, Saix opened up a swirling black portal, and headed towards it.

"I have also been ordered to bring you back with me; unless you'd rather stay here, of course. I couldn't care either way." Ending with that, he walked into the portals filled with many unseen paths of darkness, this particular one leading to the Castle That Never Was. Without thinking twice, the two girls followed him.

* * *

As they stepped out of the portal, they realized that they had also stepped into their fantasy. For there they were, in the middle of the conference room, referred to as Where Nothing Gathers. After being in the dark for so long, the bright white that covered the walls, floors, and practically everything else in the room was almost blinding to them. Shielding their eyes, they looked closer at their surroundings. The chain links imprinted on the floor lit up and flashed their way up to each of the thirteen throne-like chairs that were suspended in the air.

Only a few of these chairs were occupied when they entered the room. Each of the members stood out significantly with their black cloaks. Because each of the seven members had their hoods up, it was difficult to tell them apart. The only one that could be recognized was the cloaked figure sitting in the highest chair; Xemnas, the Superior.

Xemnas beckoned for Saix to approach him. "Good work, Seven. You may take your seat now." Saix obediently nodded and headed to his chair.

"Now as for you two," the Superior said, drawing our attention back to him. "State your names." Tsuraxte didn't seem to be paying attention, so Auxra stepped forward, slightly nervous.

"My name is Sh—I mean Auxra."

Xemnas nodded and looked at the other girl, awaiting an answer. Auxra tapped her shoulder to get her attention, and the blonde jumped slightly and turned towards Xemnas.

"Oh! My name is Tsuraxte!" she said joyfully.

A long moment of silence had passed before they heard the deep voice drag on again. "There have been a few suspicions that you two girls know a great deal of information about my Organization, even though you have never been to this world before." He then let his hood down, revealing his tanned skin and dull amber eyes. His long sliver hair tumbled out of his hood and rested upon his shoulders. "Tell me, what exactly _do _you know?"

"We should just tell them. Lying would be a bad way to start out." Tsuraxte whispered to Auxra.

"Yeah," she replied. "But we can't just tell them that they are from a video game! That would be rather devastating or even a bit disturbing, if you ask me."

Tsuraxte nodded. "Well then…we can just skip that part. Agreed?"

Giving each other a final nod of agreement, Auxra and Tsuraxte took turns to first explain how they got to The World That Never Was. Then they went into detail about all of the Organization members, including their appearances and abilities. They went as far to tell how they knew the Organization started, what their main goal was, and who was keeping them from that goal. When the two friends started to get into the deal with Sora, they seemed to have forgotten that Xemnas was even there and began to complain and argue with each other about the motives of Sora. As Xemnas was going to say something, one of the hooded members spoke to him, and brought the girls attention back to the meeting.

"What should we do with them?"

The Superior thought for a moment and stated at us. "They know far too much to just let them go. They was I see it, they have two possibilities. We could dispose of them now, and then we would have nothing to worry about. Or, we could have them join the Organization, for they could prove to be beneficial to our plan. However, if they show any resistance, we kill them."

There were many murmurs around the room debating the situation. Some said that they should just be killed, and most of the others said that we should be given a chance. However, the most interesting comment they heard was that Auxra and Tsuraxte should join because the Organization was short on women, which was true. There was only one female member, and she wasn't the easiest to get along with.

Xemnas held up a hand for silence. "I think I know what we shall do with them." He turned toward the girls. "I will let you two join the Organization as unofficial members. Prove to be loyal, and you could move up into the ranks and become official members. Show any signs of betrayal, and we kill you instantly." Auxra looked at Saix, who seemed to be smirking at the thought. The Superior leaned in closer towards them.

"So, what shall it be?" They didn't need time to think. They both agreed to join. Settling back into his chair, looking satisfied with the answer, Xemnas pointed to one of the other hooded figures.

"Xigbar!"

"Yeah Boss…?" he replied in a bored tone.

"Go show these two to their quarters, then report back here."

"Sure thing. Not like I have anythin' else to do around here."

In a flash, the man was no longer sitting in his chair, but standing before the girls. He had removed his hood to reveal his rough appearance. From what she knew, Auxra was excited to meet this member of the Organization. Tsuraxte, on the other hand, wasn't too thrilled when she realized it was he who had made the comment on the Organizations shortage of women. They shrugged off the thought and followed him down the hallways nonetheless.

The floors were extremely noisy, and had succeeded in getting on the girls nerves by the time they made it to the room they would be staying in. Especially since the room was on the whole other side of the castle. It would have made more sense to just create a portal to the room, but in a way it was good. Now they could remember how to get there when they were not with someone who could create portals.

"Well, here ya' go. After you get settled, you can go create some mischief around the castle." He stepped back towards the portal and waved to them. "Be good little children while I'm gone." Then he disappeared. That didn't make much sense either, to tell them to be good after telling them to cause mischief. But they just figured he was bored and wanted something interesting to happen.

They walked into their room and closed the door. The room wasn't luxurious, not they expected it to be. It was pretty plain and dull. Even everything in the room was a shade of grey or white. Auxra settled down onto the bed, while Tsuraxte discovered a bookshelf and immediately began searching browse through them for something to read. They both agreed to just wait until the next day to explore the castle and introduce ourselves to the other members. They were pretty worn out. It has been a long day after all.


	4. First Encounter

Battle for Salvation

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_First Encounter_

_Author__: Hey, I updated! I hope you enjoy this chapter_

* * *

There was a knock at the door, bringing the girls out of their somewhat peaceful slumber. Auxra rubbed her eyes and asked groggily who it was. There was no reply, which ticked her off slightly. 'This better not be a prank…' she thought.

She rolled out of the bed and slowly made her way to the door, opening it only enough to see out of. Auxra figured it would be Xigbar, coming to check up on them, but bright red hair caught her off guard and quickly dismissed any rude comment that was targeted at him. Axel, in all his glory, was standing outside her door, looking jokingly relieved. Auxra felt warmth gather in her cheeks and quickly combed through her messy hair with her fingers. The tall red head laughed.

"Oh, good! I thought you guys might have died or something, staying shut up in here all morning."

This last word made Auxra jump slightly. "M-morning?!" she cried out in despair, which almost sent Tsuraxte falling off the bed in surprise. "Since when?!"

"Since about…five hours ago, if you count seven o' clock the break of dawn." He said, chuckling at the confusion.

Tsuraxte quickly opened the thick curtains to let light in, but only more darkness poured in. The sky looked exactly the same as it did when they arrived there. So how in the world could it be morning? This was going to take some getting used to. Tsuraxte plopped into a chair and sighed.

"Well, look at it this way, Auxra. At least we won't have to worry about our anti-tans. And I've always like the night time better to begin with."

Auxra laid her head against the wall and sighed deeply. She turned her slightly towards Axel. "So, let's get back to the point. Other than seeing if we were dead or not, is there anything you want?"

A light bulb must of went off in his head, for he made a small gasp and snapped his fingers, which Auxra swore she thought made a small spark. He turned to his side and started apologizing to someone outside the door. There were remarks, but the muffled noises were hard to make out. Seconds later, he turned his attention back to the two mildly confused girls, but this time he was carrying two black cloaks in his arm.

"I almost forgot. Xemnas wanted me to give you two these cloaks."

The girls took them, and held them up to see the sizes. They ended up having to trade each other, but either way they were both a little too big for them. Stupid Nobodies…being so tall. However, both of them were still pretty excited to get a cloak at all. They weren't even officially members. As they draped their cloaks over the side of their bed, they heard the same small, annoyed voice come from around the corner.

Roxas came into the doorway beside Axel, and they both began to argue in hushed voices. Tsuraxte and Auxra just stood there, both extremely happy to be in the same room with two of the Organization members that they liked the most.

Before their minds could wander off any further, Roxas, now done yelling at Axel for forgetting about him, looked over to see the newest additions. It wasn't much of an acknowledgement, just a wave and maybe a half smile. It made the two girls exchange fan girlish glances anyway.

Grabbing Axel's sleeve, Roxas attempted to pull him down the hallway. "Come on, Axel. It is your turn to wash dishes, and I'm not doing them again for you."

Axel rolled his eyes. "Fine, whatever you say." Before he dragged on down to his doom, he waved to the girls. "Feel free to come hang out with us when you're feeling up to it." Auxra and Tsuraxte nodded happily. It was hard to think of any other things that would make them happier.

Auxra shut the door after they left and picked up her cloak. She walked over to a small mirror and held it up to herself. Unable to hold in her excitement any longer, she quickly put on the long cloak and began frolicking around the room in it. Tsuraxte watched her ever so energetic friend in amusement, and put on her cloak too. After examining herself in the mirror, she pulled the hood down over her face. "That's better," she said with content.

"This is pretty much how I pictured we would look." Auxra skipped around a little more, and stopped next to her best friend. "However, it's also much better, because we are going to be friends with Axel and Roxas."

"And Demyx," Tsuraxte pointed out. This little comment made Auxra jump. Without any warning, she grabbed her friend by the shoulders and began to shake her.

"We are going to be able to see Demyx too! I forgot about that!" Then she mentally slapped herself and stopped shaking Tsuraxte. "How could I forget that?" She paced for a few seconds and seemed restless. "Oh and don't forget, you will get to meet Zexion soon as well."

Now it was Tsuraxte's turn to get excited. Although she didn't express it the same way Auxra did. When Tsuraxte got excited, she became a little shaky and nervous. She sat down in the nearest chair and thought about what she would say when she met him. Maybe find out what kind of books he liked. That was most likely going to be the main thing she wanted to find out, considering she read a lot as well.

Figuring that her friend was too lost in thought, Auxra sat down on the bed and guessed that she'd better calm down a bit before they headed out to meet everyone. Maybe find a nice rock somewhere before they went to see Saïx. Hopefully they had nice rocks around this place. It needed to be really pretty in order to calm Saïx down after she decided to kick him in the shin. Not the wisest of all plans, but she was determined to do it ever since they finished playing Kingdom Hearts II.

After their preparation, they decided to get out of their room and go see who would be their first victim. And who would have guessed it, that it was one of the members that Auxra would have wanted to meet last. Vexen.

It's not that she didn't like him. It's just that he was a scientist. And when you're a scientist, you liked to experiment. Some of those experiments involve needles, and that was one object Auxra freaked out whenever she saw. She could spend hours wandering through the darkness and avoiding Heartless, but she couldn't handle needles. Then there is the way that his one eye is so huge. His face with that expression on it was scarier than the needles in a way.

Tsuraxte was a little disappointed too, but she could deal with him. At least he was an Organization member. If he wasn't then she might have lost all will to stay in this particular hallway. So they waited to see if he would ignore them or not.

Vexen seemed like he was going to walk by them, but stopped abruptly and turned to them. He didn't say anything at first, but he did make that face that made Auxra cringe a little. Deciding to break the awkward silence, Tsuraxte spoke up.

"So…umm, hey Vexen. How are you doing?" she asked, trying to sound as polite as possible.

Vexen looked very appreciative of the greeting. "Now, _that_ is how you are supposed to greet a superior member." He reached out and shook Tsuraxte's hand. "None of the other members here show any respect for me. It's incredibly rude of them, the punks," he finished, letting out a loud sigh. Then he realized that he had been ranting to himself, forgetting about the polite young women who were staring at him, probably ponder whether they should say something or not.

"Oh, sorry about that," he said, a little embarrassed. He composed himself and laid his hand on Auxra's shoulder. She tensed up immediately and gave a quick pleading glance towards her friend. She shrugged back in reply.

"So…Auxra is it? You have been very quiet for someone who has all of this important information locked up insider her. You must have at least _something_ to say?" He grinned rather wickedly.

"N-no, I'm pretty good with not talking…" Auxra said nervously. She really wished she could just go now and find Demyx or even Marluxia at this point.

"Besides, she knows as much as I do!" she pointed to Tsuraxte, who jumped back slightly and raised her hands halfway.

"Lies! You know a lot more than I do!"

"Gee, thanks, Sa—I…mean Tsuraxte." Auxra stuck her tongue out at her and got the same response back.

Vexen withdrew his hand from Auxra's shoulder and raised it to his chin in thought. These two girls were so peculiar, but he could feel that they were going to help the Organization greatly. He knew these girls were special, and wanted to find out more.

"You two and your pasts intrigue me. Not only that, but your hearts as well. What secrets could they hold…? It would please me greatly if you would come and visit my in my lab sometime so I can test—"

"No needles!" Auxra interrupted. Tsuraxte snickered in the back round.

Vexen stared for a few seconds, caught off guard by such a confusing statement. "Um, yes, of course. I didn't really mean test as in surgery or anything…more like an interview I guess we could call it."

Auxra sighed in relief. "Oh, well, that is fine then." She hesitated. "But does it have to be now or can we talk at another time…?"

"No offense—!" Tsuraxte began to apologize for her friends' restlessness, but Vexen held up a hand to silence her.

"It's fine. I'm busy right now, anyways. I have to do some other research for the Superior. We are currently debating if luring Sora into Castle Oblivion would get us closer to obtaining his powers. I think it might work, but I still have some things to go over."

Tsuraxte and Auxra exchanged worried looks, which Vexen of course, noticed.

"Do you…know anything about this?" He asked.

Tsuraxte shook her head. "Just let us know anything before you make the decision final. Is that okay?"

Vexen nodded. "Of course. I will tell you more about it when you come down so we can have our chat about yourselves. I think that would fit in nicely."

The girls both nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good to me," said Auxra.

Vexen didn't say anything more and walked down the rest of the hall and disappeared. Tsuraxte rubbed her arm uneasily and looked at Auxra. She had the same expression. If what was going to happen what they thought was going to happen, this wasn't good at all. But right now was not the time to think about it. Things were still only in the planning stages, and who knows? Maybe Vexen would think of a better plan than in the game. Besides, they didn't want to have the whole Organization worried as soon as they got here. Some peace would be nice, at least for a little while. So they both decided to just let it go until they had their meeting with Vexen in his lab.

Auxra, more relaxed, poked Tsuraxte's shoulder. "Heeey, maybe we'll see Zexion next." A mischievous smile spread across her face.

This smile told Tsuraxte that her friend was plotting, and she knew it would all be at her expense. "….And?"

"You'll just have to see, now won't you?" She laughed and took off down the hallway.

"What—what is that supposed to mean!?" Tsuraxte yelled at her friend, who was clearly not going to pay any attention to her. "What are you planning!? Auxra? Wait up!"

So they both ran down the hallways of The Castle That Never Was, awaiting the exciting and magical experiences they would soon encounter.

* * *

_Author__: Well, that's the end of Chapter 4. Things will be getting better from here on. _


	5. Setback

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_Setback_

_

* * *

  
_

The loud sounds of dishes and pans being moved around echoed from the kitchen, halfway down the hall. Voices could be heard trying to talk above the noise, but Auxra and Tsuraxte were too far away to understand any of the conversations.

Stopping a few feet from the kitchen entrance, Tsuraxte stopped and listened to the voices. After listening for a few moments, she tapped Auxra on the shoulder, suddenly nervous.

"Hey hey, I think that was Zexion's voice!"

Auxra looked unconcerned. "Uh-huh. I heard Demyx's voice too. What's the problem?"

Tsuraxte shook her head. "Aren't you nervous even a little bit?" Her friend's expression told her she sure wasn't.

"Oh I'm not too worried about it. I have a feeling that things will go just fine."

Auxra peeked into the room, just enough for no one to notice. Roxas was making fun of Axel (reluctantly) cleaning the dishes; Lexaeus was drying the dishes, Zexion was leaning against the wall watching Lexaeus dry them, and Xigbar was sitting at the table talking to Demyx. The surprised expression on his face made Auxra wonder what he was telling the poor thing.

Tsuraxte got behind Auxra to look into the room too, but pushed her a little further out in the process. And who else would be the one to notice other than Zexion? Tsuraxte squeaked and hid again. Auxra just kind of froze in place.

"Well, it looks like we have company…" Zexion muttered, almost to himself. Everyone looked up to see who it was. Auxra, kind of embarrassed, decided to stop peeking in and walked into the kitchen, dragging Tsuraxte behind her. Axel waved at them.

"Hey, you decided to show up," he said and then turned to Xigbar. "See, I told you they weren't dead." He pointed at us to prove it.

Xigbar shrugged at him. "That's wonderful, just shut up and finish doing those dishes."

Axel scowled and searched for more dishes in the water, which seemed to evaporate at his touch. This kind of made Tsuraxte wonder how hot his hands actually were. An interesting thought…

Auxra poked Tsuraxte in the shoulder to get her attention.

"I'm going to go and talk to Demyx and Xigbar…you should go see Zexion." She shoved her in his direction and then walked over to the table and sat down on the opposite side of Demyx. Tsuraxte sighed in defeat and walked over to him. Auxra smiled triumphantly and then focused her attention on the two Nobodies beside her.

"Hello," Auxra said happily to Demyx.

"Hello…" he said awkwardly and slid down in his chair. He looked nervous, almost afraid. Xigbar shook his head.

"Xigbar, is Demyx sick or something?" Auxra asked, a little concerned about his behavior.

The older Nobody chuckled. "Nah, he just feels a little uneasy about the fact that someone he's never met before knows so much about him." Demyx slid down in his chair further.

Auxra laughed. "Oh, well then…I guess I can understand that. That would probably freak me out a little too." She reached over the table and patted Demyx on the shoulder. "I'll let you know that I most likely don't know _everything_ about you."

Demyx sat up a little in his seat and smiled, a little embarrassed. "Well, I suppose that's not_ as_ bad."

Auxra looked around the kitchen. She looked past Axel and Roxas, who were deep in conversation, and found what she was really looking for. Tsuraxte was in the corner with Zexion, and things looked like they were going pretty well…at least they were talking. Plus, Tsuraxte looked happy, which was another good sign. She couldn't hear what they were talking about, but Auxra figured it was either about books or something to do with psychology.

She was about to focus her attention back to Demyx and Xigbar, but she noticed that Roxas was storming out of the room, leaving Axel with a concerned expression on his face. He sighed and then went back to do the dishes, even less into it than he was when he started. It seemed that no one besides Auxra seemed to notice, or that this happened pretty frequently and everyone was used to it. Either way, this didn't seem good.

* * *

The rest of the day came and went faster than Auxra had thought. She had been so preoccupied thinking about what happened during the morning with Roxas, that she had trouble remembering what exactly she and Tsuraxte did the rest of the day. She vaguely remembered doing some of the chores given to them, and she was pretty sure that she had accidently bumped into Saïx in the hallway...and now she was in the bedroom that Tsuraxte and her shared.

"Hey, what's up?" Tsuraxte asked. "You look like you've been thinking more than usual."

Auxra shook her head, ignoring the slightly offensive comment. "No, it's nothing. I'm just kinda tired," she lied. She didn't want to worry Tsuraxte over things that she wasn't sure about herself. She would ask Axel about it tomorrow and get her facts straight. Then she realized that she forgot someone else she ran into today: Vexen. She jumped up and snapped her fingers.

"Crap! I completely forgot!" Auxra exclaimed.

Tsuraxte, who was lying down on the bed, bolted upright. "What did you forget?"

"I ran into Vexen today, and he said that tomorrow would be a good day to visit him down in his lab. In the afternoon, he said would be best." Auxra sighed. Perfect…her confrontation with Axel would have to wait until after the meeting.

Tsuraxte fall back down onto her pillow."Aargh…great. At least it's in the afternoon. We won't have to worry about waking up in time."

"Ha! If that were the case, we'd be screwed! Especially with you in charge of the alarm clock," Auxra said, recalling the last time the alarm clock went off. She had to throw things at Tsuraxte to get her to finally shut off the alarm. Even after that, she still didn't get up.

"Hey, that kind of hurt, too," Tsuraxte said rubbing the side of her head where the headphones hit her.

"Ah, you're fine. But I guess we should get to sleep anyways. We're going to need the energy to survive tomorrow afternoon." Auxra said, hoping that he really wasn't going to get any needles involved…or do that thing with his eye. She shuddered and turned out the light."_I'll just have to be courageous_," she thought.

* * *

The morning went as usual. Auxra and Tsuraxte met with everyone at breakfast, Zexion got Lexaeus to dry the dishes for him again and talked to Tsuraxte, Auxra sat with Demyx and Xigbar. The only thing different is that this morning Roxas didn't show up for breakfast. The urge was strong to just go and ask Axel about Roxas and what was wrong with him, but she decided to be patient and go with the plan.

Right after they got their chores done, it was just about time to go find Vexen. Tsuraxte dragged her reluctant friend by the arm down the hallway towards the door that lead to the basement of the castle. There they met Vexen, waiting for them at the bottom of the third flight of stairs.

"Welcome ladies," Vexen greeted. "The lab is this way. Follow me."

The girls nodded back at him and followed him further down the dim hallway. To the right was the door they were looking for. From the inside, they could hear various beeping and hissing noises. Not that it surprised them; he _was_ a scientist after all.

Vexen opened the large door and led the two girls into one of the most confusing and dangerous looking rooms they have ever seen. There were three different computers, all of which had complicated looking equations and charts on them. Papers were continuously spilling out of the printers and falling onto the floor, and the desks were cluttered with piles of books, writing utensils, and more scattered papers. It was the same story for the floors. The only lights in the room were a few small desk lamps.

Vexen led them into the far right corner of the room by the desk that was the least cluttered. Auxra and Tsuraxte sat on the opposite side of the desk, waiting for instruction. He pushed some of the unnecessary charts out of the way and opened a tablet, and began to skim though the contents.

"So," Vexen began, not looking up from the notebook. "Would you like to hear of the Organization's latest plan?"

"Is that the one you were talking about earlier? About Castle Oblivion?" Auxra asked, already knowing the answer.

"Precisely," he said, turning back a few pages. "I'm not sure if you know this or not, but there is this young girl named Naminé. She's a Nobody, but a very gifted one. It seems that she can take apart memories, and then create new ones by drawing them." He wrote something down on another piece of paper. "It's truly amazing."

Auxra nodded, but she wasn't really paying too close of attention. She was trying to think of where things started to go wrong during Sora's visit at Castle Oblivion. At first things started to go really well. She played through the scenes in her head, trying hard to pick up anything that could have lead to the demise of five of the Organization members. One of which was sitting right in front of them.

"So what are you thoughts on it?" Vexen said, catching Auxra by surprise.

"Sorry...about what?" Auxra asked, just realizing that she had been ignoring what Vexen was talking about. She looked to Tsuraxte for help.

She sighed and apologized to Vexen. "I'll explain it to her later, so you don't have to. But I think you should go ahead with the plan, but you should check in with us every so often to let us know how things are going. We'll give you our thoughts on it then. Is that okay?"

"Sounds fair," Vexen said thoughtfully and wrote a reminder down in his notebook, and didn't say anything more for a while, so the two decided that the meeting must be over. They got up to leave.

"So…I guess we're done here, huh?" asked Auxra

Vexen looked up quickly. "Oh, wait a minute; I have one more question to ask you before you go."

The both of them didn't sit back down, but they stood on the other side of the desk, wondering what he could be meaning to ask them.

"I was curious about how you got all of the information about Organization XIII, when you don't even come from this world?" Vexen paused for a minute. "And what kind of world did you come from?"

Tsuraxte and Auxra looked at each other uneasily. They didn't speak for a few minutes, both thinking if they should tell him, and if they did, who would tell him. Auxra was the first one to talk.

"I understand that it must be bugging you, but I really don't think that we can answer that. I'm sorry."

"Oh…" Vexen said, disappointed. "Can you at least tell me about your world?"

Auxra looked over at her friend and silently agreed that there wouldn't be any harm in telling him about their world. As long as they didn't reveal anything about everyone and everything being part of a video game. That would cause trouble.

"Well, really different from these worlds," Tsuraxte began, thinking of how to explain it. "Pretty much the opposite, in fact."

Vexen got out another notebook and opened it. "How so?"

Tsuraxte thought for a moment. "Hmm…well for one thing, there's nothing magical about where we come from. Unless you count magicians, but that's all fake, anyways."

Auxra chuckled. "Man, how did we even stand it there? I mean, here we get to see people shooting others while hanging upside-down in midair and teleporting from one place to the other. At our place, the most excitement we could look forward to was no classes due to an absent teacher, or an occasional fight in the cafeteria."

Tsuraxte shook her head. "Yeah, if you take this world, take out all of the heartless, magic, cool people, and change the moon from a heart to a circle, you get our world."

Vexen stopped writing. "That sounds…very dull."

"It is," they said in unison. It was silent for a few more minutes. They couldn't really think of anything more to say.

"I suppose you don't have anything more to say?" Vexen said, as if reading their thoughts.

They both shook their heads. Vexen closed his notebooks and put them away. "Then you may leave if you wish. I will update you about what's going on in Castle Oblivion when I get the chance. Tonight we will get everything ready."

Tsuraxte thanked him and they both left him alone in his lab. They said nothing to each other while walking though the dark hallway and up the stairs. When they reached the top, they turned to each other.

"I'm going to go this way," Auxra said, pointing down the opposite end of the hallway. "I wanna go talk to Axel for a few minutes and then I'll meet you later, okay?"

Tsuraxte nodded happily. "Okay. I was planning of visiting Zexion, anyways."

"Heh, and how's that going for you?" Auxra said, smirking.

Tsuraxte stuck her tongue out at her friend. "Things are going just fine, thank you very much."

"Fine, but I'll have you know that I will be quizzing you later," she said.

They waved to each other and head towards their destinations. Auxra couldn't wait to find Axel. She was hoping that nothing big was happening, just Roxas being moody, but she had the unshakable feeling that this would end badly.

Auxra was almost at the corner of the hallway, where she would have to turn to find Axel's room. As she neared, she swore that she could hear hushed voices, arguing. She crept a littler closer, trying to figure out who it was. She stopped a few feet from the corner and listened in.

"_Why do you have to keep bringing this up? There's nothing that special about him,"_ said an upset voice.

"_I can't help it. If he's not that special, then why am I different than the rest of you? How come everyone else remembers everything about their past selves, and I don't remember a single thing about who I really am?"_ replied the other voice, equally upset.

Auxra froze as she listened. That was Axel and Roxas arguing just around the corner. They were talking about Sora, Roxas' original self; just what she didn't want them to be talking about. The horrible feeling of tragedy snuck up on her again, making her feel sick to her stomach. She forced herself to keep listening anyways.

"_So what are you planning to do?"_ Axel asked unhappily.

"_I just want to go see him. I want to find out what he's like, and find out why I'm here to start with,"_ Roxas explained. _"I just want to do that, and then I'll be back. I don't understand why you act so worried about it."_

Axel said nothing, and Auxra couldn't stand the silence. She made her why quietly back to her own room. There was no use in asking Axel what the problem was now; she heard all the answers herself. Roxas was planning on leaving the Organization and going to meet Sora. Sure, he didn't say that exactly, but she knew it would happen.

After she made it to her room, Auxra closed the door quietly and sat down on the bed and waited for Tsuraxte to make her way back to the room. How will she react when she tells her what she overheard? Now they would not only have to worry about how things go at Castle Oblivion, but now Roxas as well. Auxra buried her head in her hands.

"Just great…" she mumbled.

* * *

_ Author: Heeey,I met my goal! =D I finished the 5th chapter before Christmas! You know what I deserve? Well...probably nothing, but I would like it if you pushed that little button over there. You know, the one that says 'review'. ;D I had severe writers block for this chapter, but from here I know where this is going...for the most part. I'll see you next chapter!~_


	6. Betrayal

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_Betrayal_

_Author: Holy crap, I updated?? I'm as surprised as you are. But I hope you can get past the shock and enjoy the chapter anyways.  
_

_

* * *

  
_

The days following the fight between Axel and Roxas seemed to drag on longer and longer each day. But eventually, things did get better. To Auxra's surprise, Roxas didn't disappear from the Organization yet, and even better, hasn't even been showing any signs of it. Perhaps she was just jumping to conclusions, as she remembered telling herself in the first place. What's more is that the girls did prove themselves in missions, earning them respect from the other members.

However, things didn't go quite as they planned when the time came for the Castle Oblivion plan to fall into play. Unfortunately, not all of the members were quite convinced that Auxra and Tsuraxte knew what they were talking about, and did about their own business as usual. This resulted in the death of Marluxia, Larxene, Lexaeus, and sadly Vexen. Zexion happened to realize at the last moment that perhaps the girls were right, and returned to The World That Never Was before he could be destroyed. Axel would have escaped from it anyways, so they really didn't have anything to worry about with him, although they weren't very happy with the fact that he followed the orders of Marluxia to eliminate Vexen. But then again, they should have expected it.

It has been quite a while since then, and the girls eventually got over the deaths of the former members. How could they not? The events that followed cheered them up greatly. This time, they made sure to pay very close attention to their meetings, and Sora's agendas. They spent their nights working out plans to avoid the death of other members by Sora's hand, and still achieving the goals that Xemnas was working towards. In fact, his plans were progressing dramatically. The amount of hearts being collected was nearly doubled, and the completion of the Nobodies felt so close that it was unbearable.

They way their plans worked out weren't the most ideal, but they helped. A few battles were lost against Sora, but the damage wasn't bad enough to eliminate any more of the members. Like Demyx, for example. They never got a hold the Olympus Stone, but they convinced him to officially fight Sora at Radient Gardens. Yes, things were going quite well, and they hoped things would stay this way as long as possible.

* * *

The girls were in their room, and just like every night, were writing down notes and trying to figure out how else they could help the Organization. Auxra was sitting on the bed with her notepad, and Tsuraxte was at the desk with her own journal and a book, jotting down notes. Auxra sighed and looked around the room. She had a severe case of A.D.D at the moment, and couldn't concentrate no matter how hard she tried.

"So, what's up with Zexion?" she asked Tsuraxte, giving up on her work for now.

Her friend paused for a moment and chewed on the eraser of her pencil, thinking. Then she decided it was a good time to put away her work for the night too, before answering.

"Well, he seems to be acting a little strange to me," she finally answered.

"Oh?" Auxra said, beckoning for her to explain.

"He's just been a bit…I guess I could call it paranoid. Before when I came to visit him, he would be writing in his journal as usual, but now when I come in, he makes sure that his journal is quickly closed and put away. At least before he would share some of the things inside with me, or I could catch a glimpse, but now he's a lot more secretive." Tsuraxte sighed, looking a bit distraught.

Auxra stretched and sprawled out over the bed. "I'm sure it's nothing," she said, trying to console her friend. "Maybe what he's writing is just personal. He probably doesn't want everything in his journal to be out in the open. I know I wouldn't." She looked back over to see if it made Tsuraxte look any better, but she still looked pretty unsure. So she decided to give and move over to her own side of the bed.

"Why don't we call it a day, and think about this tomorrow?" she asked, and without waiting for an answer, clicked off the light beside her bed and disappeared underneath the blankets, leaving Tsuraxte alone at her dimly lit desk. She knew that Auxra didn't think much of the situation, but she knew that this case was different. But her friend was right with the fact that it has been a long day, and she needed sleep. So she clicked off her own desk light and headed for an uneasy sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Auxra awoke alone. She looked around the room, wondering where Tsuraxte was. It wasn't like her to get up before her, let alone leave the room entirely. While scanning the room, she noticed a note on the side of her night stand. It was from Tsuraxte, letting her know that she was going down to see what Zexion was up to. She sat the note back down and sighed with relief. But no matter how relieved she felt, she still had a weird feeling lingering in her stomach. '_Ah, I'm probably just hungry,_' she dismissed, and got ready to go downstairs to the kitchen.

Everything in the kitchen seemed to be the same as every other morning, aside from the fact that Tsuraxte was missing, and that Roxas was extremely quiet and avoiding eye contact with everyone, including Axel. Okay, well that wasn't exactly different from how he usually acted, but this time the atmosphere seemed heavier. But Auxra was too caught up wondering if Tsuraxte had found out anything about Zexion and said down to try and enjoy a bowl of Organization O's©.

Nothing of importance happened while she slowly finished off her cereal, and there was very little conversation that involved her. So she got up and dumped her dish into the sink, walked out of the room, and headed towards Zexion's quarters. Halfway down the hall, she heard other footsteps exit the kitchen. She turned her head to see who it was, and saw Roxas go down the opposite side of the hallway. She stopped walking and stared in his direction, and couldn't help but run down to him, as if forced to. Roxas heard her footsteps and quickly turned around, a trace of surprise on his face.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a confused tone.

Auxra caught up with him and became very serious. "I should be asking you that question."

"What are you talking a--" he tried to question, but was cut off.

"I overheard your argument with Axel a while ago, about you wanting to find Sora. Ever since then, things have felt really strange, and it's only gotten worse," she began explaining, and paused to see if Roxas had anything to say. He said nothing, so she continued. "Are you really planning on betraying the Organization?"

Roxas expression darkened. "I don't recall ever mentioning that I would betray anyone in that fight."

"But you are, aren't you?" she asked, accusingly.

He sighed and turned his gaze out the window. "I don't know how you know about that, and quite frankly it doesn't surprise me at all. But yes, I've been thinking about Sora, and I'm going to go search for him. It may not seem like a big deal to you, but I need to know more than anything why I exist the way I do." He then turned away from her entirely and continued his way down the hall.

"You can't leave the Organization!" Auxra yelled after him, her voice cracking. "We've come so close to achieving our goal!"

Roxas stopped, and turned back and looked at her. "I'm sorry, Auxra. I've made up my mind, and there's nothing you can say to change it." With that he walked down the flight of stairs, and was as good as gone. Auxra slumped against the wall and closed her eyes, trying not to let tears fall, and desperately thinking what she should do now.

Around the corner from where Auxra was standing, a hooded figure quietly sunk back into a portal in the wall.

* * *

After returning to her original destination, she was hit by another shocking discovery that neither Zexion nor Tsuraxte were in his room. So she searched a few other rooms that they might be in, but no luck. Things were getting really stressful, and she was about to pull her hair out by the time she got back to her own room, but thankfully Tsuraxte was sitting at her desk. She turned around and quickly got up from her chair and proceeded to shake Auxra, much like she did when they first arrived in this world.

"Shana, this is bad! I knew something was wrong!" she exclaimed, forgetting to use her other name.

Auxra pried her friend off of her and gave her a quick 'shush'. "Why, what happened? I was looking for you everywhere! Where's Zexion?"

"That's just it!" she said, still as frantic as before. "He wasn't there before I went to look for him! And he must have known that I would come to see him, because he left a kind of note for me. He noticed, too, that something weird was beginning to happen, and went to investigate it!"

Auxra sat down in a chair and shook her head. "Great. And I thought things couldn't get any worse…"

Tsuraxte didn't like the sound of her tone. "…What do you mean?"

"I confronted Roxas, and he's leaving!" She pounded her fist onto the desk. "Dangit! He's betraying the Organization anyways!"

Tsuraxte's eyes widened with shock. "But—he can't do that! Everything was going the way we wanted!" she yelled, a little too loudly, and she slipped down onto the ground. "Everything we've worked so hard for is being wrecked." she said quietly, almost to herself. She looked back up at her friend. "How are we going to tell Axel, if we even are?"

"Yeah…I know it will be hard, but we have to tell him anyways. The Organization depends on this," she answered. Then she got up and lay down on top of the covers on the bed. "But we'll tell them first thing, early tomorrow morning."

Tsuraxte agreed and clicked off the light, then got into the bed. "Goodnight…"

"Goodnight," Auxra replied back, although she knew it was anything but. She closed her eyes and fell into a troubled sleep. Little did she know that it was Saïx who was listening in on her and Roxas' argument, and took it upon himself to tell Axel. The news was nothing less than devastating to him, and left not soon after to go and find Roxas himself. After he was gone, Saïx smirked and created a portal to the Superior's quarters.

* * *

The morning came all too quick, but that didn't make a different to either of the girls. They got out of bed quicker than they ever had, and made sure that they made their way to Axel's room before anything. When they got there, Auxra knocked on the door loudly. There was no reply, and she knocked again, a little louder than before. When there was still no reply, she became worried and attempted to open the door. Luckily it was open, and she walked inside. She wasn't in there for very long and quickly rushed back out, tripping over herself, panicked. "He's not there!"

"What?!" Tsuraxte cried. "Where is he?!"

"I-I don't know! What if we're too late?!" she replied, trying to keep her voice down. "What if they are both killed!?"

Tsuraxte didn't reply, she was completely stunned by the way things were turning out. Auxra walked over to the nearest window and rested her head on it. The moon was covered with clouds, and rain pelted against the glass.

'_Three members gone…_' she thought. '_How could this be happening_?

* * *

Meanwhile, Zexion was hiding in the shadows beside Memory's Skyscraper listening in on Axel's desperate pleas to get Roxas to say with the Organization, taking notes every now and then. Roxas walked past Axel, as if he didn't notice him.

"So, you're really leaving, huh?" he asked, in a mocking tone.

Roxas stopped walking, but refused to look at his best friend. "I have to go. I need answers. I'm sick of not knowing who I really am!"

Axel pounded his fist onto the brick wall. "You can't turn your back on the Organization! If you betray them they'll destroy you!" Axel's eyes started to fill up with tears.

Roxas finally looked back, expression unchanged. "No one would miss me…" He turned his back on Axel and continued walking until he disappeared into the darkness. The only sound left was the steady splashes of rain against the rooftops and the ground.

"That's not true!" Axel muttered. "I would…"

Back behind the Memories Skyscraper, Zexion watched in awe, and quickly scribbled something into his journal. Then suddenly he heard footsteps behind him, but was too late to notice. He was lifted off of the ground buy the collar of his cloak, and pushed him up roughly against the wall. His journal and pen fell down to the ground with a splash. Hearing the sudden noise from off the scene, Axel jumped and quickly conjured up a portal and disappeared into it.

Zexion struggled to get free of the strangers' grip, but failed. The figure lowered his hood, and the violet eyes met bright aqua ones. It took a few moments to set it, but then he shook the surprise away from his face.

"Long time no see, Riku."

* * *

_Author: Well, that's chapter six! The story is pretty much on it's way to a close. _ The end is getting so close, I can almost taste it. I'd say...maybe 2 more chapters? Hmm. Oh well, please click the review and tell me what you think._


	7. Always With You

_Battle for Salvation_

_._

_The End_

_Author: Whoa. I had way too much free time on my hands, and typed this up. I hope this ending makes everyone happy. =)_

_

* * *

  
_

Auxra was still up against the wall, still and silent. Her world was crashing down before her eyes, and she doubted that there was anything they could do to stop it. Tsuraxte stood beside her friend, staying quiet for a majority of the time, but could stand it no longer. She pushed away from the wall and let out a loud sigh.

"I can't just stand around here anymore! We need to do something," she said, bringing Auxra out of her thoughts.

"What do you suggest we do?" she asked weakly.

"Well, I'm going to go and look for Zexion outside of the castle. Who knows, perhaps I'll find Axel or Roxas in the process. I suggest that you do the same."

Auxra said nothing at first, and turned her gaze back out of the window. She didn't quite like the idea of splitting up at a moment like this, but she couldn't risk wasting any more time. The thought of losing any more or the Organization to Sora was an unbearable thought. Her mind was made up. Auxra looked back at Tsuraxte, determination showing strongly on her face.

"Yes. Let's go."

And so they decided to start out of the castle without informing Xemnas, or anyone for that matter, of their plans. Upsetting their Superior was the last thing on their minds. On the way out, they devised a plan. Tsuraxte would search the grounds for Zexion, and Auxra would look for Axel and possibly Roxas if she was lucky enough. There was still a lingering doubt in the back of her mind; that Axel was even still in this world.

* * *

Back at the Memory's Skyscraper, Riku held Zexion up against the wall, with no intention of letting him get away. His eyes showed no other emotion but hatred towards the Nobody that planned on using Sora as a puppet.

"Skip the formalities," he spat, in response to the despicable creature's greeting. "I should have finished you off before you ran away."

A mocking smile spread across Zexion's face. "Heh, you mean like how you abandoned your friends back at Destiny Islands, remember? The Darkness was so tempting… He paused to study Riku's expression. "And that Darkness still consumes your heart, no matter how much you deny it. Your so-called friend Sora probably wouldn't even want to look at you."

"Shut your filthy mouth!" Riku shouted, and slammed the creature up against the wall with more force than before. He summoned up his Soul Eater blade in his other hand, and aimed it at Zexion's chest. "You act like you know everything. You seem to have forgotten that I've defeated the Darkness in my heart, and everything else I have put behind me. My only goal now, is to stop Organization XIII from taking Sora prisoner to their unrealistic plans."

Despite the situation he was in, Zexion laughed. "You obviously received your information from the wrong source. We've obtained a great deal of help, and our plans have taken a completely different turn. You might as well give up now. You'll never destroy the Organization."

Riku's eyes glinted with anger, and would hear no more of the nonsense the Nobody rambled on about. He raised the blade high and plunged it into his victim, and dropped him to the ground. As he was walking away, Zexion struggled for his journal, quickly flipped to a page and wrote down whatever he could until he finally faded away into the darkness.

* * *

Exiting the Castle, Tsuraxte and Auxra said a farewell to each other before going their separate ways, just in case things turned out badly. Rushing down the dimly lit alleyways, Auxra turned the last corner of Fragments Crossing, and figured out that she was half right. Axel was, in fact, not in this world anymore. This alley should have been a dead end, but replacing the wall was bright portal, leading to where Auxra knew was Betwixt and Between. So the worst was on its way, just as she feared. Without hesitating, she jumped through the portal, hoping she was not too late.

On the other side, she found she was just in time. Hundreds upon hundreds of white, fluidly moving Dusks were everywhere. Axel had just finished fighting off a group of them when he noticed her presence. He hit another Dusk away from him, and they made their way through the frenzy to meet up.

"What are you doing?" he asked in a shocked tone. "You shouldn't be here!'

"I came to get you away from here, of course! You left so suddenly without saying anything, and I had a feeling this would be happening!" she replied quite frankly. She didn't care to cover up any more information, there was no time.

Axel was about to reply, but a Dusk attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground. He caught the lesser Nobody and quickly killed it. Auxra helped him back to his feet. He looked exhausted. Auxra looked around angrily at the other Dusks closing in on them.

"Why are they attacking us, anyways!?" she yelled. "I thought the Organization controlled the Dusks!"

Axel slumped over, breathing heavily. "Unfortunately, it seems like Xemnas found out what has happened, and set the Dusks on us."

Auxra would have been very angry and confused on how that could have happened, but a blade interrupted their conversation, just missing them by inches. She caught glimpse of the weapon long enough before it spun around and returned to its owner. It was the Keyblade that was hurled at them, and the wielder was none other than Sora. He prepared to attack again, and having no other option, so did Axel and Auxra.

* * *

Tsuraxte turned around corners of the dark city, becoming frantic for she could not find Zexion anywhere. She turned around a corner, into another alley and tripped over something, into a puddle. Now completely soaked, she looked to see what made her fall. Her eyes widened when she saw the familiar journal with the Organization's symbol on it. Tsuraxte picked up the book that belonged to Zexion and read the page it was opened to. It read something about Axel trying to get Roxas to return, and then it ended abruptly with a long streak of ink down the rest of the page.

A sinking feeling entered her stomach, and Tsuraxte flipped through the other pages, searching to see if there was anything else. On the next to the last page was another note. She read through it once, twice, and even a third time. She now knew for certain that her friend was gone, but she found out something else. This information was unbelievable, and she had to find Auxra as soon as possible, before things went too far. She stood up, put the book in her cloak, and headed for Fragments Crossing.

* * *

Things were moving way to fast. Dusks are attacking constantly. Plus to make things worse, Riku eventually showed up to help Sora. They were attacking us mercilessly, so I had little time to defend myself as well as Axel, who could barely stand up.

Axel finally gathered up enough strength to send Sora flying back a good few feet. Riku went over to help his friend up, and Auxra took advantage of the moment to help Axel stand. He sighed and smiled weakly.

"You know, all I wanted was to see Roxas again. At least one…more time before he went away. I never intended for things to go this far…" he explained to Auxra. "You should never have gotten involved in this," he paused, and looked across the floor. Tsuraxte had entered through the portal, waving her hands wildly in their direction. "It seems like she thinks so to." He pointed at her friend.

Auxra looked over at her friend in surprise. Not just with the fact that she was there, but that she didn't have Zexion with her too. Things must have gone just as bad there as they were going here. But strangely, Tsuraxte didn't look sad. She ran over to her two badly injured friends, and took out Zexion's journal.

"We have to get out of here, now!" she exclaimed.

The two of them stared at her for a few moments, but then Axel saw that Sora was preparing to attack again. He conjured a portal behind them, and then collapsed to the ground.

"There…" he panted. "You'll get back through there. Go quickly…and…thanks for all that you've done."

Tsuraxte proceeded to push Auxra towards it, but she struggled with every bit of strength she had. Sora noticed this and started running at them, weapon raised.

"W-wait! What are you doing?! We need to help him--" she protested, but Tsuraxte was stronger than her, and successfully pushed her though. The last thing she saw was Sora and Riku ganging up on Axel, a cry of pain, and then the portal closed.

* * *

The girls fell onto the cold ground with a loud 'thud'. Auxra pushed Tsuraxte off of her, and got up to her feet. She looked all around her to catch a glimpse of Axel anywhere, but all she could see were trees and tall grass. They were back in the woods not too far from her real house. The feeling was strange; it had been a while since she had been back to her own world. The air was still, and the sound of crickets filled the air. Grass rustled behind her as Tsuraxte got up.

"Shana…?" she asked cautiously, deciding it would be appropriate to use their real names again.

Hot tears formed in the corners of Shana's eyes, and she clenched her hands into fists. "Why did you make me come back!?" she cried. "Why didn't you let me stay to help!? We could have sa--" , Sabrina cut her off, and pulled out the journal again. She flipped through the pages, until she reached that note at the very end of the book, and showed it to Shana.

'_If you've found this journal, and I'm hoping it was you Tsuraxte, it means I have been destroyed by Riku. You might have noticed it too, but I feared that the end was coming, and nothing could save us, not even you. The Organization was destined to fail from the beginning, and I've accepted this fact. However, it seems that there is a small ray of light that I see emerging from the darkness. Warmth is returning, and I can sense the presence of the other lost members of Organization XIII. I now know that this isn't the end, but a new beginning for us. I believe that Kingdom Hearts have given us a second chance. I thank you for all the help you've given us, and I say goodbye for now. But don't think that we've abandoned you entirely. As long as you have this journal, I…and the rest of us, will always be with you._

_ Zexion_'

Shana didn't know what to make of the message. With further examination of the letter, she noticed a date sprawled at the bottom of the page, which she realized was the date that they first arrived at The World That Never Was. Why he put that there was a mystery. Sabrina took back the journal, and looked around at the woods that were so familiar to them. The two of them looked at eachother.

"Well…I guess…there's nothing else we can do, huh?" Shana asked, letting the adrenaline that was left from the battle drain out of her. Reality was starting to set back in, quicker than she would have liked.

"Yeah," Sabrina replied. "I think it's time we went back to our home."

Before they began walking, something shiny caught Sabrina's eye. It was the watch she had earlier, before they fell into what seemed now like a dream. She walked over and picked it up, examining the face. The time was the same as when it had stopped, but yet the minute hand had begun ticking again.

"Huh," she mused. "It seems like no time has passed here since we were gone…"

Shana looked over at the watch, too. She was right. "At least we won't get grounded for the rest of our lives for being gone so long."

"Like it matters," Sabrina laughed. "You never leave the house anyways." With that, the girls were finally ready to go home, with the memory of the friends they made in their hearts.

* * *

It was around the same time the next year. Shana was sitting in her living room, playing the new version of Chain of Memories that came out for the PS2. Sabrina was sitting beside her, Zexion's journal in her lap, complaining about how they kept the card system. But then Shana made the point about how it was a lot easier than actually fighting in a battle, and Sabrina reluctantly agreed. They really did know how hard it was, after all.

Then, in the middle of a boss battle against the Riku replica for the fourth time, the Nobody symbol on the journal began to glow. The two girls looked at each other, thinking the same thing. They both had the strong urge to go back to the spot that they haven't been to for a year, deep in the woods.

"Oooh, and right in the middle of a boss fight!" Shana said, putting the game on pause and setting down the controller.

Sabrina waited by the door as Shana ran to the kitchen to tell her parents that they were going for a walk. When they were freed, they both ran as fast as they could into the woods, not caring about the scratches they were getting from twigs and thorn bushes in the process. With a little effort, they found the hidden pathway behind the pine branches and headed down it. They slowed down as the approached the end of the path, and were rendered speechless by the sight they saw. Down at the end of the path were the Organization members, relaxing by the trees. Although they did look a little different now, the girls could tell that it was them, that they were whole this time. The one that resembled Axel the most, looked up at them and waved. Everyone else looked up at them too, and the girls ran over to them, as excited and happy as they ever had been. Shana immediately struck up conversations with them. 'Zexion' looked up from his book and Sabrina looked over at him, and they both smiled.

"See?" he said, his smile becoming more mischievous. "I told you we'd always be with you."

* * *

_Author: Well, I'm sorry that I lied, but instead of 2 more chapters, this is where it ends. =)_

_I hope you all liked it, and thank you for all of the reviews I've gotten. Please, tell me what you thought of the story~ Aaaannnd, I guess for now, I'm off!_


End file.
